Oregon Reps. Greg Walden and Kurt Schrader reached across the partisan divide Tuesday to form the Healthy Forests Caucus, which is aimed at encouraging Congress to put more money into managing Northwest public forests.

The new caucus also gives Schrader, a freshman Democrat in a swing district, a chance to promote his bipartisan credentials by reaching out to the one Republican in the delegation who also happens to have close ties to the wood products industry. "That fits the M.O. of the congressman reaching across the aisle and the M.O. of the district in wanting to get things done," said Schrader's spokesman, James Atkin.

Walden, who lost his forestry subcommittee chairmanship when the Democrats took over the House in 2006, gets another forum to persuade the Democratic majority that the U.S. needs to aggressively manage federal forests to reduce the risk of fires that pump tons of greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere.

I'm not saying this is the start of another great buddy act like we saw for so many years with Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden (D) and Gordon Smith (R), until the last election got in the way. But even in this polarized atmosphere, voters like to see lawmakers working productively with members of the other party.